Winsford Spring Meet 2023 - REPORT
On Saturday 22nd April Winsford Swim Team hosted our very first Spring Development Meet. Due to us moving our club champs to the summer the decision was made to schedule our summer meet to the spring time, so we could continue our ever so important and popular development meet for all our youngsters, and all the local clubs in the area and clubs from further afield.
As always our meet was jam packed (and to be honest I have never seen poolside so populated), with clubs and swimmers coming from all over the North West and Midlands. Our summer meet has always been a blockbuster and our spring meet was no different with clubs clambering to get their entries in as soon as possible. At this time of year the calendar is geared towards the LC meets and the National Qualifying window, however there is still a big demand for all the young, up and coming swimmers. Swimmers who are starting out their journey in the ever so exciting, fun and sometimes wacky world of competitive swimming.
Our Spring Meet consisted of all the 50’s, 100’s and the 200 IM over 1 day, 2 sessions, so it was sure to be fast and furious, with some extremely exciting racing, especially as there were ribbons for those swimmers gaining a 4th-6th placing, and medals for the top 3 in each event and each age group. Add to this, spot prizes were readily awarded for the winner in certain heats, all these awards giving that extra carrot to all competitors to swim their very best, and from what I could see all swimmers were giving it some welly.
It was great to see so many happy faces both poolside and in the water, yes we are all very competitive and yes we all want to win, but we also want to enjoy every single minute of the whole experience of racing. Racing should be fun, it should be something we all look forward to, with no fear. Race Day is the equivalent of Christmas, Birthday, Easter and going on summer holiday all in one day, and sure to be sure we had lots of super happy, and fast swimmers over the 20 events we raced in. It was great to see so many swimmers jangling their medals around their necks with big grins on their faces as they made their way around poolside.
What was also great to see was all swimmers racing, and supporting each other. At Winsford we don’t just race for ourselves but we also race for others too. What I mean by this is that we take an active part in each and every race, it is our duty to support our team mates, and everyone did their duty with great aplomb. That is what makes the whole day so much more fun, there is literally nothing better than cheering on your team mates and we certainly did that. To be honest I thought the atmosphere poolside from all clubs was second to none.
The results over the day were fantastic with race after race of sheer guts, determination and the brilliant will to win. As Head Coach it was wonderful to see so many great races from so many talented swimmers right across the board from all clubs. I usually count medals and do medal tables, however this would take quite sometime to complete with 410 swims from 76 swimmers, but rest assured I did take note of all our swims. So WELL DONE to one and all.
In order for us to run such a successful meet I would like thank a number of people, so here goes; many thanks to the gala team who organised and ran such a brilliant Spring Development Meet, I am completely biased but nobody do meets like us! The success of our meets is not only due to the organisation but also the volunteers who give up their free time so the whole day can operate without any hitches, so thank you to all who helped out on the day. With a special, special, and even more special mention to all those parents who came down to help and who did not have any of their children racing, your help was greatly appreciated and did not go unnoticed.
Also many, many thanks to all officials who helped out during the day it was great to see you all poolside supporting us and all swimmers. I thought the officiating was very fair, especially with it being a development meet and for many swimmers this was their first taste of racing. It was great to see so much experience poolside passing on their many years of wisdom to all officials.
The final thank you goes to all swimmers, coaches and clubs who came to Winsford and supported our Spring Development Meet. It was fantastic to see everyone and we really do hope all our guests had an absolute ball, we would love to welcome you all back again for our ever so popular Christmas Meet, so please keep your eyes peeled for information later in the year. On behalf of all the coaching team at Winsford we would like to wish all visiting clubs, coaches and their swimmers the very best for the remainder of the season.
Winsford Development Spring Meet 2023 was a fantastic success and this was down to ALL volunteers, ALL officials, ALL who helped organise the event, ALL clubs who raced at Winsford and most of all to ALL swimmers, it was a great day for everyone.
Now that our Spring Development Meet is done and dusted, we can now look forward to the NW Age Regional Championships this coming weekend. I am positive training levels will be at their optimum this week with all swimmers looking forward tremendously to the racing ahead. There is nothing more exciting than a Regional Championships.
See you at the pool
Dan.
